London-based Gocycle, founded by Richard Thorpe, a former industrial designer at McLaren, has released the first images of its new range of folding cargo ebikes.
Gocycle, best known for its sleek folding ebikes, first announced its move into the cargo bike market back in February, along with some shiny 3D renders of two models — the CXi and the more premium CX-plus.
“Right now all we have is a promise and a bunch of image renders, not even photographs of a real bike,” wrote The Verge at the time.
Well, for all the sceptics out there, these images confirm the F1-inspired ebikes have been built. Or, at the very least, a prototype of one.
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The CX weighs just 23kg, which the company claims is “class-leading.” The ebikes can carry up to 220kg including the rider, passengers, and cargo — pretty impressive for such a dainty looking bicycle.
The rear wooden rack, where most of the heavy-lifting will happen, is compatible with MIK-type child seats and can be fitted with panniers for extra capacity or a pet carrier for your fluffy friends.
A really cool feature is a specially designed handrail that encases little passengers in a protective ring. Known as HaloCX, it was inspired by the halo driver crash-protection system found in F1 cars.
The CX has a range of around 80 kilometres, with a top speed of 32 km/h — although that will be capped at 25 km/h in Europe.
In keeping with GoCycles tradition, the CX is fully foldable. Although at 23kg without accessories, it’s going to be quite a workout lifting the bike, especially for smaller persons. Although the fact that you can actually lift it at all is a feat in itself — most cargo bikes weigh at least 40kg.
According to Thorpe, the CX series looks to bring the lightweight, portable characteristics of his ebikes to a customer base often “turned off by cumbersome and heavy cargo bikes.”
I imagine that the CX will be best suited to people living in dense urban centres that need a bike that can drop a kid or two at daycare, fold the bike up, and take the train to work. They would also present an attractive alternative to heavy, bulky cargo bikes which can be a nightmare to store in tight city living spaces.
However, I can’t foresee this niche being all that big, especially in Europe, where most urban families are blessed with quick access to multimodal transport options like taxis, rental bikes, or e-scooters.
Then there’s the price. Starting at €7,000 for the CXi, and jumping to €8,210 for the CX-plus. This model includes an adjustable handlebar called Flofit, that Thorpe describes as “probably the most adjustable-for-comfort handlebar ever developed.”
So like most of GoCycle’s offerings, these cargo bikes don’t come cheap. For that money, or less, you could get yourself a cargo bike with a lot more storage space, like a front-loader or “bakfiets” as they are known in Dutch. This is what I opted for when I swapped my car for a cargo bike last year.
I’m just not quite convinced that the GX series would make a practical replacement for a car, which at that price-point they should. I guess it remains to be seen how the cargo ebike fairs, especially given that the pandemic-era bicycle bubble has well and truly popped.
“Entering the cargo ebike scene is a bold move for Gocycle, expanding our product family into uncharted territory,” admits Thorpe.